In Carrara, ancient fountains occasionally change color: Vezzala's 17th-century fountain turns blue

It had come as a great surprise to all residents of Carrara when, in April 2018, the street artist who signed himself “AGIO / ODIO / AGRO” had completely repainted the seventeenth-century Vezzala fountain, an ancient fountain in Carrara’s historic center, just outside the Bozzo gate: the back wall of the archway that houses the fountain had taken on a shocking pink coloring, while the niche of the statue had turned lime green. To this day, the reasons for the street artist’s gesture are not known: the most plausible hypothesis has it that the artist acted to save the fountain from degradation, since the site, which is located in one of the most problematic areas of the historic center, had become a destination for incursions by writers and graffiti artists who had covered the monument with various types of writing.

In recent months, however, the writers had returned to action, ruining the work of “AGIO / ODIO / AGRO” and covering it again with writing and graffiti. So, in the first week of January, the fountain changed color again: this time the niche is blue, while the wall has become ultramarine blue, complete with golden stars in the center, a sort of street art reinterpretation of the vault of the Scrovegni Chapel or, perhaps a more apt comparison, of Piermatteo d’Amelia’s vault in the 15th-century “version” of the Sistine Chapel. A work that was later covered with Michelangelo’s world-famous frescoes. Does the street artist want to send a message? Perhaps he is waiting to be covered again, or does he want to avenge the little-known 15th-century artist by making his blue and stars triumph? We don’t know: in the meantime, the city once again divides over who appreciates the gesture of the anonymous street artist and who would like to see the Vezzala fountain restored to colors more “consonant” and closer to the original ones. In the meantime, we can only note how, from time to time, fountains in Carrara change color.

Pictured: on the left the Vezzala fountain after the 2018 intervention and on the right after this year’s intervention.

In Carrara, ancient fountains occasionally change color: Vezzala's 17th-century fountain turns blue

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